1. Oil has played a huge role throughout the history of mankind: it is not without reason that it is called “black gold”. We have collected several interesting facts about oil, which will be useful for everyone to know.

2. There are interesting versions explaining the origin of oil. The most popular of them claims that oil was formed over tens of millions of years from the remains of living organisms that once inhabited our planet.

3. Probably the first people to extract oil were the ancient Egyptians, who used a valuable resource in the construction of housing as a binder. But the first oil rig was created by the Chinese back in the 4th century AD. Instead of a modern auger, the Chinese used bamboo trunks through which oil was released under pressure.

4. In ancient Babylon, bitumen and tar, products of oil refining, were used to build buildings and roads. And the Egyptians and Greeks used it to make fuel for the first primitive lamps.

5. Another interesting use of oil was "Greek fire". It was used in Byzantine Empire as a weapon, because it was very difficult to extinguish it. The secret of this fire was that it was based on a mixture of oil products with combustible substances, so all attempts to extinguish it with water were in vain.

6. In the middle of the 19th century, the increased demand for oil literally saved the life of the whales. How? Whale oil at that time was an invaluable product. It was used to make candles, medicines, cosmetics, and most importantly, all lighting lamps worked on it. That is why whale hunting was carried out on an unthinkable scale, which led to their almost complete extinction. Fortunately, in the 50s, in the process of distilling oil, a cheap and safe material was discovered - kerosene. It was he who replaced the whale oil, which saved the whale population.

7. Oil is the real queen of the world economy. It would seem, why does everyone react so much to fluctuations in its price? After all, if the average citizen prefers a bicycle to a car, then what does he care about changes in the cost of a barrel of oil? In fact, oil is not only used in the entire transportation system, but is also essential for some chemical components which are found in almost all consumer products. That is why even a tenth of a dollar change in price affects each of us and affects the entire world economy.

8. Why is oil measured in barrels, and, for example, not in liters, which are more familiar to us? The history of the barrel began in 1866 in the United States, when several entrepreneurs united to transport and sell oil. To save on oil containers, they bought already used 42-gallon or 159-liter barrels that were intended to carry oil, wine, and other liquid goods. It was believed that this size is optimal for loading into railway cars. Over time, the volume of 159 liters was approved as a common unit of measure for oil. But why is the unit of measurement called exactly barrel? It's simple: in English barrel is a barrel.

9. An oil spill is a real environmental disaster and a threat to animals. The fact is that when oil gets on the plumage of birds or the hair of mammals, it creates a film that prevents air from being retained between the feathers or hairs of animals. Deprived of thermal insulation, animals die from hypothermia. It is believed that if the body of an animal is half covered with oil, it can no longer be saved.

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It is no coincidence that today such a mineral as oil is called black gold or even “the blood of modern civilization”. Almost everything is made from oil: from film to plastic goggles for swimming. We have collected 14 most interesting facts about oil and oil production:

1. 1. What does the word "oil" mean?

In Russian, the word oil came from Turkish (from the word oil), which comes from the Persian naft, and which in turn was borrowed from the Semitic languages. Akkadian (Assyrian) word nartn"oil" comes from a Semitic verbal root npt with the original meaning "spew, spew."

There are other versions of the meaning of the word oil. For example, according to some sources, the word oil comes from the Akkadian napatum, which means "flare, ignite," according to others - from the ancient Iranian naft, meaning "something wet, liquid."

But, for example, the Chinese, the first, by the way, who drilled an oil well back in 347 AD, called and still call oil - shi yo, which literally means "mountain oil".

English word petroleum, which the Americans and the British call crude oil, also, by the way, means "mountain oil" and comes from the Greek petra (mountain) and the Latin oleum (oil).

2. 2. Where did commercial oil production begin?

The world history of industrial oil production began in 1848 in Azerbaijan. The mention of oil production in the suburbs of Baku refers to V century AD. Oil is everywhere here. In some places in this area, you don’t even need to drill anything - the oil itself forms puddles on the surface.

3. 3. Where does " Eternal flame coming out of the sacred mountain Yanadarg?

Here, in the suburbs of Baku, the most famous of the volcanoes, Yanadarg, known as the Burning Mountain, is located. From its bowels emerges natural gas, which has been burning for several centuries, but the fire does not go beyond the mountain.There is always a strong smell of gas in the air.Natural gas rises through cracks in the rock and comes to the surface unaided.

4. 4. How is an oil field formed?

Oil seeps into layers of loose sandstone or fractured limestone, and may even move to soak into layers like water soaks into a sponge. During geological processes horizontal layers are curved, and oil begins to migrate more actively along them. Due to the fact that at depth the pressure is greater than at the surface, oil does not flow down, but, on the contrary, tends to rise. Once in such a fold, oil cannot leave it. Geologists call such a structure a "hydrocarbon trap", in which a huge amount of oil accumulates, forming a deposit. The presence of a trap is the first condition for the formation of a deposit.

5. 5. Is it true that Edwin Drake, who first proposed drilling the earth for oil, was considered crazy?

Outside of Russia, the first oil well was drilled in 1859 in the United States by Colonel Edwin Drake in the vicinity of Titusville, Pennsylvania, the general representative of the Seneca Oil Company. Due to attempts to use drilling to find and extract oil locals thought Drake was crazy. In addition, Drake, by his own account, invented the casing pipe, "without which no one could drill in the lowlands where the earth is flooded."

6. 6. When did oil production begin in Russia?

In Russia, until the middle of the 19th century, oil was extracted from Absheron Peninsula from wells, and already on July 14, 1848, in the place of Bibi-Heybat, the world's first oil well was drilled using a percussive method using wooden rods.

In 1900, 631.1 million poods of oil were produced in Russia, which accounted for 51.6% of the total world oil production.At that time, oil production was carried out in 10 countries: Russia, the USA, the Dutch East Indies, Romania, Austria-Hungary, India, Japan, Canada, Germany, Peru. At the same time, the main oil-producing countries were Russia and the United States, which together accounted for more than 90% of all world oil production.

The peak of oil production in Russia occurred in 1901, when 706.3 million poods of oil were produced (50.6% of world production). After that, due to the economic crisis and falling demand, oil production in Russia began to decline. The price of oil, which in 1900 amounted to 16 kopecks. per pood, in 1901, due to an overabundance of supply, it fell by 2 times to 8 kopecks. for a pud. In 1902, the price was 7 kopecks. per pood, after which there was a tendency to restore demand and volumes of oil production. This trend was interrupted by the revolution of 1905, which was accompanied by arson and the general destruction of the Baku oil fields.

7. 7. How is oil exploration carried out?

The lines along which oil exploration is carried out are called "profiles". The data obtained from each profile allows you to build a section rocks, on which all underground structures will be clearly visible. If geophysicists find a "hydrocarbon trap", then most likely there will be a field.

Most effective method oil exploration - seismic exploration. The principle of this method is similar to medical ultrasound. In doctors, the device generates ultrasonic waves that are reflected from the tissues internal organs. A sensitive microphone picks up these reflections, and the computer produces a picture. Geologists have almost the same thing: in order to see the bowels, you must first create an impulse that will be reflected from the underground layers. At the surface, it must be captured and then measured to obtain an image of the earth's thickness.

8. 8. What is a seismic vibrator and how does it work?

Seismovibrator- This is a truck that is designed to excite longitudinal seismic vibrations. Their task is to create a powerful impulse that will be reflected from underground layers, and will be recorded by a seismic receiver. Previously, explosives were used for this, but seismic vibrators are more convenient, safer and do not harm the environment.

A group of seismic vibrators must move exactly along the profile on which the geophones are installed. After every 100 m, the seismic vibrators stop to give out a powerful vibration impulse. The support platform is lowered, lifting the 20-ton machine. At this time, a signal from a seismic station arrives in the driver's cab.

The car starts to "bounce" 80 times per second. It is not visible to the eye, but it is reflected on the ground. Each pulse is equivalent to 40 grams of TNT. It turns out that in 4 seconds a total impulse with a power of almost 12 kg of TNT goes into the ground! Seismic sensors begin to record vibrations. Inside each seismic sensor there is a magnet, which is surrounded by a coil with a thin wire, freely suspended on a spring. The incoming wave shakes the body of the receiver along with the magnet, and the coil begins to move. The magnetic field induces an alternating voltage in it, repeating the shape of the oscillations. The electrical signal from the receiver is transmitted to the seismic station.

9. 9. Is it true that oil can be used to embalm the dead?

AT Ancient Egypt oil was used to embalm the dead. In those days, petroleum bitumen was used to embalm mummies and to cover boats.

10. Is it true that oil can be used as medicine?

In 1874, the principle of producing salicylic acid from phenol was discovered, and since then, acetylsalicylic acid, or simply "aspirin", has become one of the most popular in the world. medicines. Everyone knows that aspirin has antipyretic, anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects. In addition, the antiseptic phenyl salicylate, used to treat colitis and other gastrointestinal diseases, and para-aminosalicylic acid, used in anti-tuberculosis drugs, are produced from salicylic acid.

Various oil derivatives are used in drugs that help people get rid of allergies, headaches, nervous stress or infectious diseases. Esters and alcohols are often used in the production of antibiotics.

11. What legend tells about the discovery of the healing properties of Naftalan oil?

An interesting legend about how they were discovered healing properties naftalan oil. Many centuries ago, a trade caravan passed by the place where the city of Naftalan is located today. There, travelers saw numerous lakes with muddy water. They drove their camels away from suspicious reservoirs, but one, the weakest and sickest, was allowed to get drunk and stay to die so that he would no longer suffer. On the way back, the caravaners met an abandoned companion - the camel was completely healthy. He was helped by an oily liquid, which was under the turbidity of the water. People smeared their wounds with it and were healed.

12. Is it true that oil can save humanity from starvation?

Oil can save humanity not only from disease, but also from hunger. Processing only 2% of the volume of oil produced annually makes it possible to produce up to 25 million tons of protein. This is enough to feed 2 billion people for a year. This protein is used in the production of a wide variety of products, and replaces animal protein, which is sorely lacking to meet the needs of the ever-growing population of our planet.

12. 13. Why are Saudi sheikhs so rich?

Saudi Aramco is a national company that produces oil in Saudi Arabia and wholly owned by the state. This company is the world's largest oil company in terms of oil production.

Do you know how much it costs Saudi Aramco to produce one barrel of oil?

Forbes magazine knows this. Here is what he writes (in my rather loose translation):

Saudi Aramco is the most profitable company on the planet. It does not fully disclose its financial figures, but a rough approximation of its net income is $200 billion a year with annual income in excess of $350 billion. Last year, Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi told reporters that on average, the A barrel of oil in Saudi Arabia is $2. This barrel of oil is sold for $130. If you pass the same barrel of oil through an integrated petrochemical plant, it will easily bring in $500 in revenue.

For comparison: in the Russian oil company Rosneft's production cost per barrel of oil averages $14.57. And taking into account the costs of exploration, drilling of wells and modernization of the refinery, it turns out to be $21 per barrel.

14. Why does an increase in oil prices lead to a change in the dollar and an increase in prices for all goods?

What if the price of oil goes up? Even if it grows many times, and after it the price of gasoline, it would seem, what ordinary person before this thing? You can walk to work or ride a bike.

And here's the thing: once upon a time there was a dollar. For him they gave 35 rubles. Thus, at an oil price of $100 per barrel, the country's budget received conditionally 3,500 rubles. However, then the price of oil began to fall, and with an oil price of $50 per barrel, the country's budget began to receive conditionally 1,750 rubles at a constant ruble exchange rate. Thus, there is a shortage of money in the budget and a deficit arises, and the ruble exchange rate weakens to compensate for the shortfall in the budget. As a result, in order to get the same 3,500 rubles from 1 barrel of oil at a price of $50 per barrel, the exchange rate should be about 70 rubles per dollar. http://mirnefti.ru/index.php?id=21


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3 years ago

Scientists are still debating about the origin of the word "oil". Most of them are sure that it has Turkish roots, and the Turks, in turn, borrowed it from the ancient Assyrian “nartn”, which means “to spew”. Other linguists associate the name of the mineral with the Akkadian verb "napatum" - "to ignite". There is an assumption that this may be an Iranian borrowing of the word "naft", that is, "liquid substance".

Oil is not only black, but also truly alive gold. After all, it is based on sea water and plankton that lived on Earth tens of millions of years ago. Although scientists made this discovery relatively recently. There was a time when the source of education natural wealth whale urine was considered, which supposedly is so heavy that it settles on the seabed, then soaks into the soil and penetrates into its deep layers through underground channels.

The five states of the Persian Gulf have the largest oil reserves known today. They account for 2/3 of the discovered deposits.

Just one drop of "black gold" can ruin 25 liters of drinking water. water.

Oil spilled on the surface of the ocean is considered an environmental disaster. But in history there is a case when she became not a destroyer, but a savior of animals. In the 19th century, whales were subjected to mass extermination because their blubber was ideal for use in lamps. He did not smoke, did not have an unpleasant smell and was spent very economically. This substance was also used for other purposes - for example, for the manufacture of cosmetics, for lubricating mechanisms and for the production of candles. The whale population was rapidly declining, the largest animals on Earth were on the verge of extinction. The whales were helped by the invention of kerosene, a petroleum distillation product.

At the dawn of the automotive industry, gasoline, obtained, as you know, from oil, was extremely cheap and was practically not in demand. After all, only a few could afford to buy a car, and therefore, the need for in large numbers there was no gasoline. It was more purchased for hygienic purposes - as a remedy for lice or to reduce greasy stains on fabric.

A jump in the price of oil inevitably leads to higher prices for consumer goods. It is not by chance that "Black Gold" becomes their indicator. After all, in addition to gasoline, it is spent on heating needs, and chemical and synthetic products made from it are widely used for the production of consumer goods.

In a day we spend about as much oil as nature has been creating for one and a half thousand years. This earthly wealth is not replenished, and someday, although in a very distant future, the oil reserves on Earth will be exhausted.

In fact, oil is the same coal, only liquid: these natural resources are so close in chemical composition. They even refer to general group- caustobioliths. He was the first to guess about their relationship Mikhail Lomonosov, published in 1763 the work "On the layers of the earth."

The ancient Chinese were the first to get oil by drilling, and it happened in the 4th century BC. They dug a 240 m deep hole in the soil using pipes made of bamboo.

Modern science believes that oil production has already reached its peak, which occurred in 2005. Then, for several years, the pumping out of the earth's resource was even and was at the level of an imaginary plateau. Since 2011, a gradual decline has begun.

Have you ever wondered what language the name of oil comes from? Hardly - we rarely think about what seems natural. Well, the more interesting it will be to find out that "oil" came from Turkish " oil", which, in turn, took its origins from the Persian " naft" (borrowed from Semitic languages). Thus, the Assyrian nartn” literally means “spewed out”, “spewed out”.

However, this is not the only version of the etymological name of the fossil. Other scholars claim that the word "oil" comes from " napatum"(Akkadian word), which means "flare up", and still others - that it came from the ancient Iranian " naft"Something wet."

The Chinese, who were the first to drill an oil well in the 3rd century AD, named the find according to their poetic mentality " shi yo"-" mountain oil ". By the way, in the 21st century they continue to call oil the same way.

Where does she come from?

We remember curriculum schools - oil formed the remains of plankton organisms that live in sea ​​depths tens of millions of years ago. Living for a very short time, but multiplying with astonishing speed, billions of plankton, microscopic living creatures, die and settle to the bottom. After that, they become covered with silt, decompose, become viscous. The mash, being at a depth of 2,000 meters, at a temperature of 65 ° C and high pressure becomes oil. This takes millions of years (having found itself in the same conditions, but at temperatures above 135 ° C, the dead plankton become gas). Being under impermeable rocks, oil seems to be stored under an airtight lid. This is the answer to the question why a fossil lying “freely” on the bottom needs to be mined.

The "discoverer" of oil is considered to be the American Edwin Drake, who in 1859 instead of water, which he was trying to find, found an oil field with the help of drilling. With this happy incident, the “oil fever” began.

How much is it?

If we divide the oil reserves that modern mankind knows about by the duration of the geological epochs during which this extremely useful mineral was formed, we get the amount that is formed daily - 150 barrels.

At the same time, modern oil companies produce at least 85 million barrels a day - it took nature 1,500 years to create such an amount. The annual consumption of oil by modern humanity was produced by Mother Nature for half a million years (humanity exists much less).
There are 40,000 on our planet today. oil fields. 60% of the total amount of "black gold" is produced by 300 giant deposits discovered in the middle of the last century (elephants). The remaining 40% is produced by the so-called mice - deposits with a very short lifespan.

The notorious Safaniya field (which is located in Saudi Arabia), with a width of 15 kilometers, extends for fifty kilometers. Safania, which was discovered in 1951, today has 37 billion barrels and at least 150 billion cubic meters, respectively, of oil and gas. All this could satisfy the demands of the United States of America for 5 years. That's why the people of Saudi Arabia "do not live in poverty" - the national company SaudiAramco is the most profitable on the planet. Well, even if she does not disclose financial indicators - Forbes magazine knows that her annual net profit is at least $ 200 billion.

What color is oil?

It would seem a ridiculous question - everyone knows that this "gold" is black. But, it turns out, and not necessarily black! Oil can be red, green, blue and even... colorless! Interestingly, its color is unimportant (gold is also gold in Africa). Experts say that the shade of a mineral depends on the characteristics of the resinous substances contained in it (quantity, nature, color). It is noteworthy that the share of non-hydrocarbon impurities affects the quality of oil, but not the color - the quality of oil does not depend on it. Colorless (and maybe white) oil is, in essence, gas condensate.

Ambiguous benefit of a mineral

If you have so far been vaguely aware of the significance litigation, in which cases of spilling oil into water bodies are considered, and the companies guilty of them are subject to fabulous fines, you should imagine an oil drop weighing half a gram. It forms a film on the surface of the water, whose diameter is 30 cm. This film does not allow air to pass through, thereby creating a vacuum for all living creatures living in this area.

A fish that lives in water, in which there is only 0.1 mg per liter. oil, has a smell, which she will get rid of only after a month of life in an ideal clean water.

The studies of Jacques-Yves-Cousteau have a clear formulation: the presence of petroleum products in sea ​​waters in just 20 years led to the extinction of 40% of living organisms.